I'll have to do some guesswork here as I have not tasted these wines in other than regular format bottles. More than that, I do not know how Castel's bottling line is set up for corking of large format bottles. Thus....keep in mind that my projections are merely guesses and could be off in one direction or the other. You might do well to send an email to the winery. I'm sure their predictions will be for longer drinking windows but striking a mean between the estimate of the critic and the producer might be interesting.

Keep in mind that I said that my estimates were largely "guesstimates", but those are based to some great extent on the reality that the Grand Vin wines of Castel are not aging as well as many (including myself) had originally anticipated. More than that, in predicting maximum drinking windows, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I also have a Castel Grand Vin, 2003 that I have been intending to open very soon, so all this information of this TNR is very helpful! I am intending to open my magnum of the 2004 vintage until at least 5 more years probably…

I'll have to do some guesswork here as I have not tasted these wines in other than regular format bottles. More than that, I do not know how Castel's bottling line is set up for corking of large format bottles. Thus....keep in mind that my projections are merely guesses and could be off in one direction or the other. You might do well to send an email to the winery. I'm sure their predictions will be for longer drinking windows but striking a mean between the estimate of the critic and the producer might be interesting.

2002 was indeed a problematic vintage in Israel (what I often refer to as the "2002 Curse") and an interesting year for Castel because this was the year that they released two Grand Vin editions - the "regular" edition and their first kosher edition.

For the regular edition - drink up.For the kosher edition - drink now or in the next year or so

Daniel Rogov wrote:2002 was indeed a problematic vintage in Israel (what I often refer to as the "2002 Curse") and an interesting year for Castel because this was the year that they released two Grand Vin editions - the "regular" edition and their first kosher edition.

For the regular edition - drink up.For the kosher edition - drink now or in the next year or so